


walking on sunshine

by kingcowb0y



Series: borderlands but gayer [1]
Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, also this is backdrop for literally all my other fics, for now. it will get gayer and fix some discrepancies, so yeah., will update as i please, yeah okay i'm just telling bl1 from lilith's perspective
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:07:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25926394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kingcowb0y/pseuds/kingcowb0y
Summary: borderlands 1, from (mostly) lilith's perspective. little bit of fix-its here and there. have fun.
Series: borderlands but gayer [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1881553
Kudos: 2





	walking on sunshine

her name is dr. lilith cashlin. “mercenary scientist” and siren extraordinaire. (okay, extraordinaire is a bit off, but she’s definitely a siren.) two months ago she was still working in a lab back on dionysus. two months ago she’d seen a news article about how the dahl corporation had finally completed its withdrawal from some far-away planet called pandora. two months ago, that name had gripped her, and she knew she had to be there. she just _had_ to.

so here she sits, riding the bumpiest and dustiest bus she’s ever ridden in. it’s awful. at least back on dionysus the streets _existed_ , for fuck’s sake. here, there isn’t so much a road as bits of concrete buried under _so much_ friggin’ dust. she hates this planet already. 

she wasn’t fortunate enough to be alone on this bus, however. there’s some hulking guy in the back, a tough-looking skinny guy with a sniper sitting in front of her, and a ( _very handsome_ , she thinks) soldier type across the aisle. and of course, the driver. introduced himself as “marcus” and said he’s got the best business on the planet. lilith’s pretty sure it’s all bullcrap.

she’s also pretty sure that if she has to see this soldier guy any more, she’s going to develop a crush. some men are just _pretty_ , okay? that being said, she doesn’t know when his stop is. all four of them _were_ at the interplanetary shuttle port she landed at, sure, but they could be natives. they might know where they’re going; lilith sure as hell doesn’t. hell, she doesn’t know where _she’s_ going, or at least, she doesn’t know until she feels the bus stopping and hears someone speaking.

_next stop: fyrestone depot. time to gather up your stuff! who’s gettin’ off the bus?_ asks marcus. but lilith isn’t really listening. something else has caught her attention.

it’s just a voice, at first; a soft lilting sound that’s now accompanied by a glowing face in blue.

_don’t be alarmed. i need you to stay calm and don’t let on that anyone is talking to you._

lilith can do that.

_start making your way off the bus._

she grabs her jacket from where it sits next to her and gets ready to stand up when the bus actually stops. surprisingly, the other three passengers _also_ stand up. _huh_ , she thinks.

_you don’t have any reason to trust me, but i need you to believe that i’m here to guide you--i’m here to help you find the vault_ , continues the blue lady speaking to lilith. _in a moment, you’ll be greeted by a funny little robot. do everything he says. you’ll know what i mean when it happens. i’ll contact you again soon._

that’s when lilith realises, of course, that her fellow bus riders are probably here for the vault. the freaking vault. thinking about it, it’s probably the vault that calls out to her so strongly. she _has_ to be here. _are these guys being called by it too? hm._

she’s at the front of the bus now, and the driver is being an ass. again.

_well, we’re here. don’t worry about saying goodbye. i’m sure we’ll be doing this all again soon enough._ he laughs at his own statement, then says shortly, _get off my bus._

well, that’s confusing, but sure enough, lilith and those other... vault hunters, she guesses, get off the bus. and that lady was right, a little yellow robot that introduces itself as claptrap stands before them and leads them into the town of fyrestone. it gave them each a new echo device, and as it hands her one, she tries to say no before realising sourly that she’d left her old one on dionysus. _dammit._

of course, as soon as the robot describes the town as _peaceful,_ some bandit jockeys fly over their heads and start shooting up the town. good thing she brought a gun, since apparently it’s going to be a fight. 

_gee, brand-new to the planet and we’re already shooting people for our lives,_ she thinks. or says, apparently, because the skinny one responds.

_yeah, yeah, shut up and kill these pendejos._

so she does, leaving bandits bleeding in the dust as she follows the tall guy and the soldier. she blinks in surprise when she notices the tall guy isn’t even using guns, just punching people with his massive fists. the four of them make their way into the center of town and kill the last of the bandits.

that blue lady shows up again. lilith isn’t even surprised.

_excellent! i knew you were the right choice, friend. now go. i’ll contact you again soon._

that’s that,then. the little claptrap goes up to one of the doors and bangs on it, saying how _these visitors have solved the problem!_ or something, and then her echo buzzes to life as an older-seeming man--the echo-id gives his name as _dr zed_ \--starts talking to the four of them. the soldier guy listens more intently than lilith. she’s just poking about some bins across the way when she hears a rolling door open, and looks to see that dr. zed standing in his office. 

she has to wonder what the point of being here is, and the snippets of conversation she hears between zed and the soldier--she catches him introducing himself as _roland_ \--indicate that the local populace, if they’re clever, doesn’t believe in the vault. _great._ the fools she got here with are after something that probably doesn’t even exist. 

then that claptrap speaks again, and roland starts following it, so lilith follows, too. of course, as soon as they near the gate, the claptrap falls victim to a drive-by rocketing. and again, that blue lady shows up, telling them to save the poor thing. luckily lilith knows her way around some basic robotics, and she easily fixes up the claptrap after grabbing a repair kit she sees in the distance. 

it opens the gate, and immediately, lilith hears the distinct sound of sniper fire. (she’s been the target of assassination attempts before, due to the siren status, and has learned to hear a sniper from a mile away.) one, two, three, four, _five_ little skags drop dead in neat succession. 

_boom!_ chuckles the skinny guy. man, she really has to learn these people’s names. 

it doesn’t matter right now, though, because now roland’s telling her to go get some power coupling for one of zed’s machines. apparently zed can’t do it himself, which, okay, fine. she spots an overturned health machine down the left side of the road on the other side of fyrestone’s gate, but the big guy ends up being the one who grabs it and takes it back to the _good doctor._ _how the hell is he a doctor if he doesn’t have a medical license?_ on second thought, she doesn’t want to know.

after the machine is fixed, zed calls them into a little meeting. lilith hangs out outside his building, mostly not listening to him, but she does catch him saying something about more bandits belonging to the gang that’s been harassing the town. she nods along and follows the sniper, the big guy, and roland out to the gate.

roland turns to speak to the group before they exit the town’s limits. 

_okay, folks, the name’s roland. nice to have met ya. before i ask your names, though, have the rest of you been seeing that blue lady?_

there is a collective sigh, and the big guy opens his mouth.

_yeah, slab, i been seein’ her. i’m brick._

_you can call me mordecai,_ says the sniper, nodding to roland.

_dr. lilith cashlin, but just call me lilith._ sure, she’s being too stiff for the occasion, but she doesn’t know how else to introduce herself. 

_‘kay, cool. intros done. now, i’m sure we’re all here for that vault, but i don’t even know where to start with findin’ it, so..._

_so, we fight a buncha bandits and try not to get killed doin’ it?_ asks mordecai, sounding very sarcastic as he does so.

  
 _that’s the plan, killers,_ lilith pipes up. okay, maybe she _can_ hang with this bunch. after all, what’s better for forming friendships than being shot at?

**Author's Note:**

> this work is for me to like, fix inconsistencies and just show lilith some love. because lilith is good. thanks


End file.
